??Family Guy? Kills Off Brian the Dog!

They love to change things up and cause creative tension, but the folks behind Family Guy may have gone too far with their decision to kill the beloved Griffin family dog Brian.

Executive producer Steve Callaghan explained that creator Seth MacFarlane and the rest of the writers pondered the idea and ultimately decided to replace the pup with another pooch named Vinny whose voice is provided by Tony Sirico of The Sopranos fame.

“MacFarlane is a big fan of “The Sopranos” and always loved Tony Sirico in particular, and he thought it would be fun to write a character based around his voice and his personality.

Callaghan added, It sort of caught fire as a fun way to shake things up. As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be, and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters.”

As for the initial backlash some viewers have expressed, Steve noted, “Our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us. We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.”